- The Curious Meaning of the Phrase ‘Hoist with One’s Own Petard’
The OED offers several different senses of this word in its entry for ‘petard’, but the earliest and chief meaning is: ‘A small bomb made of a metal or wooden box filled with powder, used to blow in a door, gate, etc , or to make a hole in a wall ’
- PETARD Definition Meaning - Merriam-Webster
Aside from historical references to siege warfare, and occasional contemporary references to fireworks, petard is almost always encountered in variations of the phrase " hoist with one's own petard," meaning "victimized or hurt by one's own scheme "
- Hoist with his own petard - Wikipedia
Literally, the phrase means a bomb-maker was blown off the ground (hoist) by his own bomb (petard) It commonly refers to an ironic reversal in which one is taken down by one's own scheme
- Hoist With Your Own Petard - Meaning Origin Of The Phrase
A petard is, or rather was, as they have long since fallen out of use, a small engine of war used to blow breaches in gates or walls They were originally metallic and bell-shaped but later cubical wooden boxes
- What’s a petard, as in “hoist by his own - The Straight Dope
The key word is “mines,” as in “land mines,” for that’s what a petard is (or “petar,” as Shakespeare puts it — people couldn’t spell any better then than now) A small explosive device designed to blow open barricaded doors and gates, the petard was a favorite weapon in Elizabethan times
- Petard - definition of petard by The Free Dictionary
Hoist is the past participle of hoise, an earlier form of the verb hoist, "to be lifted up," while a petar or petard is a small bomb used in early modern warfare
- PETARD | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
It is farcical that any industry should be put into a situation in which it is hoist by its own petard as sales rise
- PETARD Definition Meaning | Dictionary. com
Petard definition: an explosive device formerly used in warfare to blow in a door or gate, form a breach in a wall, etc See examples of PETARD used in a sentence
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